Re: RFD: x32 ABI system call numbers

[Geert Uytterhoeven]

On Tue, Aug 30, 2011 at 06:45, H. Peter Anvin <hpa@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> On 08/29/2011 07:16 PM, Kyle Moffett wrote:
>> The goal of x32 as I understand it is to allow 32-bit x86 programs to
>> use all the nifty extra registers and faster instructions (IE: syscall)
>> without needing to deal with the 2x memory overhead of 64-bit
>> pointers.

Good. IIRC, the PPC people were thinking about something similar back in 2007,
but it hasn't materialized yet.

> That is the major goal. ÂA minor goal is to bring x86-64 goodness to
> those who have an (irrational) fear of 64 bits thinking it is a major
> porting effort. ÂThus, *source-level* porting effort matters, but it is
> completely subordinate to the major goal.

>From my experience, if the source code is not 64-bit clean, it will probably
be a major hassle to make it cope with changed time_t and off_t and other traps
of that kind...

As a first step, gcc should start enabling -Wall by default ;-)
And add a -Wcast option, as grepping for (C-style) casts is way too difficult...

Gr{oetje,eeting}s,

            Geert

--
Geert Uytterhoeven -- There's lots of Linux beyond ia32 -- geert@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

In personal conversations with technical people, I call myself a hacker. But
when I'm talking to journalists I just say "programmer" or something like that.
             Â Â -- Linus Torvalds
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